Vote for the Vancouver City Bird

Comments 3 by Rebecca Bollwitt Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 — 10:46am PDT

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I don’t often delve into politics publicly but there’s one election happening this spring in Vancouver that cannot be ignored: The search for the Vancouver City Bird. There are six candidates in the running–all with their own Twitter accounts–and one hopes to come out on top so we can show it off for Bird Week 2015.

Vancouver City Bird Candidates

Northern Flicker | Twitter
Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, don’t be surprised if you scare one up from the ground.

Anna’s Hummingbird | Twitter
Anna’s Hummingbirds are among the most common hummingbirds along the Pacific Coast, yet they’re anything but common in appearance. With their iridescent emerald feathers and sparkling rose-pink throats, they are more like flying jewelry than birds.

Black Capped Chickadee | Twitter
A bird almost universally considered “cute” thanks to its oversized round head, tiny body, and curiosity about everything, including humans.

Pileated Woodpecker | Twitter
The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. It’s nearly the size of a crow, black with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest.

Varied Thrush | Twitter
The Varied Thrush’s simple, ringing song gives a voice to the quiet forests of the Pacific Northwest, with their towering conifers and wet understories of ferns, shrubs, and mosses.

Pacific Wren | Twitter
Small in stature and incomparably energetic in voice, the Winter Wren inhabits moist forests and other habitats across much of eastern North America.

Park Board Commissioner Constance Barnes told Vancouver Metro: “We have the highest count of migratory birds in the world, it’s amazing.”

2014-04-23 Vancouver Stanley Park Northern Flicker-5

Photo credit: Ann Hung & Michael Schmidt on Flickr

“They’re not just important for pollination, but also things like bugs and making the city green. They’re birds that we see everyday, you just don’t stop to appreciate them. So we’re looking at ways to engage the public, both kids and old birders like myself.”

John and I have spotted the Northern Flicker recently in Stanley Park and the Black Capped Chickadee is always open to a photo op if you’re walking around the west side of Beaver Lake. However it’s the Varied Thrush who gets mentioned most often in the posts that the Stanley Park Ecology Society contributes here. Wren and Chickadee are also the only ones of the bunch with Stanley Park Trails named in their honour. This is a tough decision!

You can vote for your favourite between now and May 10, 2014 which is the end of Bird Week this year.

3 Comments — Comments Are Closed

maggieWednesday, April 16th, 2014 — 10:56am PDT
This is kind of hilarious. Those birds are all super cool residents. That one in the photo is a chestnut backed chickadee, fyi.
Rebecca BollwittWednesday, April 16th, 2014 — 10:57am PDT
@maggie – fixed!
Tyler IngramWednesday, April 16th, 2014 — 11:00am PDT
The Black Capped and Chestnut Backed (seen in colink’s photo above) Chickadees are year round residents as are the Anna’s Hummingbird. I’ve only seen a Pileated Woodpecker once in Stanley Park but I’ve seen Downy and Hairy woodpeckers more frequently. I’ve also seen Northern Flickers a lot too.

Other birds I’ve seen in and around Stanley Park are:
Barred Owls (including owlets)
Bald Eagles
Osprey
Rufous Hummingbirds
Red-breasted Nuthatches
Bushtits
Mute Swans (obviously)
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Ducks
Mallards
Various Swallows
Surf Scoters
Black Oystercatchers
and a bunch more 🙂

I think that the voting should be done on year-round resident birds. But neat idea nonetheless!